TEXT E It is curious how much one
despises and condemns the vices which one does not happen to possess. I am
indeed not a severe man, nor would I permit myself to become intolerant of those
failings which I share with others. But, having no particular temptation to be
untruthful, I find myself believing that when one comes to think of it, truth is
the major virtue and lying the most blameworthy of all the vices. I should like,
therefore, to get my mind a little clearer on the truth question. I flatter
myself, as I have said, that I am a truthful man: a man who, when he tells a
lie, is careful not to forget that he has done so, and. who takes infinite
precautions to prevent his being found out. This, in the end, is the only test
by which you can distinguish the liar from the man of truth. The latter who is
bothered by untruthfulness, is worried and anxious. The real liar, however, is
merely amused: he doesn’t mind in the least even if he is subsequently exposed:
he regards the truthful man as somewhat of a fool. But this
surely is one of the many false statements with which the real liar will try
hard to idealize his failing: It may be inevitable and even just to tell lies,
but it cannot seriously be argued that such habits are intelligent. A lie is
always an act of mental cowardice, whereas intelligence is brave. And yet there
was Bismarck, and yet there was Napoleon--surely intelligent men, and surely
liars. The problem, therefore, is not so simple as it seems. It
was simple enough, in those old days, to define with approximate accuracy when a
given statement ceased to be the truth and became a lie. The essential test was
whether the maker of a false statement knew that he was saying something false,
and consciously wished his audience to accept, and to remain under, this false
impression. Life in civilized communities is a process of adjusting the personal
to the social, of conforming the individual impression to the joint impressions
of the common ’people. This process of adjustment leads inevitably and rightly
to a certain unconscious deception. Absolute truth, whether unconscious or even
conscious, is thus impossible. It is to relative truth only that we can hope to
aspire. It is true, according to the text, real liars will ______.
A．try hard to perfect their vices with false statements B．believe it unavoidable and reasonable for everyone to tell lies C．argue that their habits of telling lies are intelligent rather than foolish D．are misunderstood as being either cowardly or brave individuals